F+W Media Undergoes Corporate Rebrand

Company now called F+W, a Content + eCommerce Company

There’s been a spike of corporate media rebrands in the last couple days. Glam is now called Mode Media to reflect its new broader market coverage. TechMedia Network announced today that it’s now Purch—a shortened reference to its products’ focus on tech product purchasing decisions. And F+W Media is now officially called F+W, a Content + eComerce Company.

For F+W, the change is more representative of the company’s ongoing strategic shift into e-commerce. Not long ago, it was known simply as an enthusiast publisher in the craft, art, writing and outdoors markets, then called F+W Publications.

As the company expanded its commerce product lines—related third-party products, pattern kits, digital downloads, etc.—F+W also began to de-emphasize its media designation, instead using its brands as a way to support communities and their product purchasing power.

"The new name doesn’t categorize our company or consumers, or hinder the creativity and entrepreneurship of our teams to come up with new ways to engage our consumers," says F+W chairman and CEO David Nussbaum in a statement. "But instead keeps the focus on our content—in all forms—which sits at the heart of the company. And our e-commerce business which allows us to deliver that content in myriad ways and interact directly with our valued customers."

In the last six years, the company says it has grown its e-commerce business from one store and $6 million in revenue to 31 vertical stores generating close to $60 million.

Last year, the company says its stores attracted 20 million unique shoppers and completed 650,000 transactions.

While the new name puts F+W’s commerce ambitions on equal footing with its content operation, Nussbaum declined to be more specific on top-line percentages, other than to say that e-commerce is now a "very meaningful percentage of the company’s overall revenues."

SourceMedia CEO Doug Manoni has been named chairman of ABM. Manoni, who most recently was vice chair of the business media association, will succeed outgoing chairman Neal Vitale. His term starts immediately.